wrestling-fans &laquo; WordPress.com Tag Feedhttp://en.wordpress.com/tag/wrestling-fans/
Feed of posts on WordPress.com tagged "wrestling-fans"Thu, 24 May 2018 19:45:17 +0000http://en.wordpress.com/tags/enhttps://dubbadubbae.wordpress.com/go/wrestling/the-cruise-of-jericho-inspired-by-hollywood-blockbuster/
Mon, 07 May 2018 18:38:31 +0000Culture of Personalityhttps://dubbadubbae.wordpress.com/go/wrestling/the-cruise-of-jericho-inspired-by-hollywood-blockbuster/World renown wrestler, lead singer, and podcast extraordinaire Chris Jericho has compiled a cruise for the summer of 2018. The cruise assembled some of the greatest wrestlers in the world from past and present. Former WWE wrestlers, Ring of Honor wrestlers, former commentators, and many other talents across the wrestling world are joining Jericho’s cruise around the ocean. Many fans will be treated to backstage passes, interviews, meet-and-greets, and a wrestling show; a variety of wrestling fans are ecstatic about the opportunity this summer. Even if you don’t believe enough about it, Jericho’s band (Fozzy) will be in concert during the cruise, as well as many other legends of rock n’ roll. The cruise is promising to be one of the greatest cruises that a wrestling fan could ever dream.

We at Dubba Dubba E have followed the Trail of Jericho in the recent months and we desired to find where his inspiration came from. We have searched the internet, which we have now discovered to be an awful decision. Nevertheless, we found Jericho’s inspiration behind the cruise. This news is brand new to us, so we shall be sending it through to you!

As we followed Jericho’s trail, we found him in an interview; talking with Inside the Ropes interviewing legend, Kenny McIntosh. In the interview, McIntosh asks Jericho about the main reason for the Jericho cruise. It is obvious that Jericho is passionate about his upcoming cruise, so he tells the interviewer with a twinkle in his eye and with great delight. When asked, Jericho informs the audience that he was inspired by a movie masterpiece. He would claim this movie was as much as a masterpiece as his grand idea for the Cruise of Jericho.

When asked more about the Cruise, Jericho reiterated the names of wrestlers attending the event and how massive this cruise is going to pull to his creative ideas. Jericho told McIntosh about how he never had seen this inspiring film and he was delighted to watch it. McIntosh attempted to discuss more of the inspiration, but Jericho chased a rabbit trail since he wasn’t specifically asked about the inspiration.

In a last ditch effort to leave his fans happy, McIntosh asked Jericho specifically about the inspiration. Jericho responds by saying it was inspired by the historical masterpiece, Titanic. Shocked by the answer, many surrounding the two and McIntosh are dumbfounded by the words that came out of the Mouth of Jericho. Jericho would continue to talk about how he loved that movie, giving it the highly credited 6 out of 5 Meltzer stars, in mocking for his opponent at the time: Kenny Omega.

When McIntosh would attempt to explain the ending of the movie and how it was a horrific incident in the movie and in real life, Jericho would interrupt him, highly praising James Cameron on a fantastic film. After many attempts of explaining to Jericho, McIntosh finally revealed the news to the wrestling legend, but Jericho couldn’t believe it. After a moment of reflecting, Jericho believed he was being “ribbed” and he went into full character from WWE. He states at the end of the interview before he leaves, “Do you know what happens when you lie to Jericho about the Titanic? Do you know what happens? Kenny Mac…YOU JUST MADE THE LIST!” Jericho processed to write down McIntosh’s name onto a paper napkin due to WWE actually trademarking the List of Jericho merchandise.

As an individual whose career has been a creative genius as his wrestling persona has evolved, only time will tell with the other possibilities that Jericho can conceive. The Dubba Dubba E staff sends their thoughts, prayers, and good vibes to everyone aboard the upcoming cruise. As well, we know everyone will enjoy the time away to nerd out about wrestling and rock music.

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Mon, 30 Apr 2018 16:48:28 +0000Culture of Personalityhttps://dubbadubbae.wordpress.com/go/uncategorized/long-haired-simon-is-truly-confused-about-where-he-is/Many fans are aware of him. He is always in attendance. He is always there, same seat, same place, every show. How can this be? Is this man a die-hard fan or a man simply finding pleasure and pride from attending every wrestling show? At one point, many people believed he was stalking some of the female wrestlers. That was disproved when he started attending both shows. If you’ve watched a second of WWE programming, you’ve seen him at least once. He attends almost every show on the front row with his mother. This man does not hold any social media (that we know about) and he does not possess any form of major communication. All we know about this fan, he is always there. Sitting. Waiting for his moment to strike…or shine. His motives are unclear.

The name dubbed to him by the internet is “Long Haired Simon;” and he will be called as such by us at Dubba Dubba E. We were fortunate to catch up with Long Haired Simon and talk to him about his intentions of the front row seats.

Me: Simon, we are glad you were able to join us and talk.

LHS: Well, I’m glad to be here, but my name isn’t Simo…

Me: Simon, we want to thank you for being here with us. Let’s get down to it. You attend every show, right?

LHS: That is correct!

Me: How long have you been a fan?

LHS: Ever since I could remember. I remember as a child, watching and loving every second of it.

Me: Fantastic! Who was your favorite performer in the ring?

LHS: Isn’t it obvious? It is Kid Rock and Snoop Dogg!

Me: Well, that is strange…

LHS: You didn’t see when Snoop Dogg beat up Chavo a few years back? Then he performed his heart out! I know Kid Rock has never performed in the ring, but did you see him perform on stage at Wrestlemania 25?! It was awesome!

Me: Uhhhhhh…..

LHS: Wait, do you mean the side shows? You mean the wrestling! Yeah, it’s pretty cool; but I’m there for the main attractions.

Me: Main attractions?

LHS: Yeah! All of these celebrities started showing up on this random show on the USA Network and I decided to attend it! For weeks in 2010, there would be a list of celebrities to appear on this nothing show and it was live recording, like the Price is Right or Jeopardy! There were these minor athletes that would act in-between these shows. Nowadays, it is far in between. Some nights, the celebrities don’t even appear on the show, building suspense for the next on who will show up!

Me: Simon, I don’t think you…

LHS: Every now and again, you’ll see someone like Steve Austin or Dwayne Johnson appear to help out the show. They both have made it big from television and movies. It is so kind of them to help this show! Sometimes they have to get physical with these other scrubs. Please, we are not there to watch them. We are there to watch these celebrities.

Me: This is frustrating. Simon, I don’t think you understand where you are.

LHS: Of course I do. I’m on a live action TV show that runs every week.

Me: You’re right, but…

LHS: But nothing. Don’t tell me that you think it’s a wrestling show.

Me: It is a wres….

LHS: That is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard! No one would watch wrestling.

Me: Please, leave. I’ve never been so disappointed in my life.

To this day, Simon still attends wrestling shows, oblivious to the reality of what he is doing. He continued to do so until he ran out of money and had to get a real job like the rest of us. Every now and again, we think about Long Haired Simon and wonder if this was kayfabe or reality. The world will never know.

Any WrestleMania weekend experience is going to be marked by surreal moments. From the shear spectacle of the WWE’s collection of events and activities, to the overwhelming amount of professional wrestling occurring over seven days, and to the breathtaking risks and frequently draw-dropping storytelling of the performers on cards all across the weekend’s host city, it is certain that every fan attending these events will be able to take home a story of when they stood up in exclamation and awe. As an attendee of both of World Wrestling Entertainment’s major wrestling events over that weekend, Saturday night’s NXT Takeover: New Orleans and Sunday’s WrestleMania 34, I became privy to some of these moments experienced by those around me.

I attended the NXT show on my own since my WrestleMania companions were arriving late in that evening. On the way from the parking garage to the Smoothie King Center, my stride was overtaken by another man who appeared to also be on his own. He slowed down as he approached me and I was certain I was about to be asked if I wanted to buy an extra ticket or that he was going to try to engage me by telling me how nice my shoes were (this last part is a common line for grifters in New Orleans).

Instead, the man looked at me with a face full of amazement, arched his elbow and lifted his thumb in the direction he had just come from and told me “I just ran into the Miz back there!”

I, not being exactly the most socially skilled academic or wrestling fan on the planet, could only think to say, “Oh, yeah? That’s cool.” This did not deter my new sidewalk companion’s excitement. “Yeah,” he continued, “just walking around. Freaking awesome. I love WrestleMania weekend!”

From there this very excited Miz-bump-into-er sped up is gait and became part of the maddening crowd shuffling into the arena.

My seat at the Smoothie King Center for NXT Takeover: New Orleans.

I encountered a number of other varying types of fandom once inside the arena. The WWE’s most important annual event draws people from all around the world, and I was genuinely surprised at the many different types of people who had come out for the NXT show. Once in my seat I found I would be spending the following four hours next to what I can most kindly describe as someone representative of the wrestling fan stereotype: a rather large and odorous young man draped in a Matt Hardy “Mower of Lawn” shirt, who insisted to his companions that he had the inside scoop on all things wrestling. He did not, by the way, have any scoop that could not be found on the average wrestling website.

On my other side was a family of four who had made the trip from eastern Europe to attend the weekend’s festivities. When not fully engaged in the show myself, I took note of the son, the youngest member of his family, and his wide-eyed excitement at the action – it was all fresh for him and he wanted to be a part of the crowd in spite of his father’s insistence on keeping a cool demeanor.

It was an interesting placement, being wedged between these two perspectives. On my right was an example of what is commonly conceived, derivatively, as a wrestling fan – loud, obsessed, judgmental, and borderline obnoxious. On my left was a child whose every impulse was to be pulled into the carnivalesque theater of professional wrestling and to engage with it innocently, as if the whole thing were a real competition that held immeasurable stakes. When it comes to professional wrestling, these personalities are equal parts contrastive and complimentary. They are both fully engaged with the products they consume, they are both lost in the moment of the thing, and they are both, willingly or subconsciously, suspending their sense of reality and biting on the narrative being presented to them.

Viewing these two differing ends of pro-wrestling fandom was one of my personal surreal moments from that weekend. Seated uncomfortably in the 300 level of the Smoothie King Center (perhaps the most uncomfortable seat I have ever been in, and I only fly coach), I was taken aback by two personalities I have been. Looking at the young boy, I remembered when I was about ten years old and my parents took me to a tiny armory in northern Maryland to watch a WWF house show, and I saw my favorite wrestlers at the time fight right in front of me, including a match between Bret and Owen Hart, an occurrence that now I wish like hell I could have appreciated more at the time. Looking at the young man on my right I thought about how I had attended yet another house show as a teenager and saw Brock Lesnar in the opening match, before he had debuted on television, and how, being a fledgling internet smart mark, I leaned over to my friends and said smugly, “I read about this guy.”

By contrast, I spent WrestleMania 34 wedged between some old friends whom I made during the ten years I spent as professional wrestler myself. I spent most of the event exchanging thoughts with my friend Greg, an accomplished and still very active performer in the northeast who works under the ring name Greg Excellent. Greg and the promotion he founded, Ground Breaking Wrestling, were the main reasons I was able to live out my own boyhood dream of being a wrestler, and I felt it particularly poignant that I was able to attend the biggest event in the industry with him. It is a rare moment for me to see Greg or any of my close friends from the business, having stepped away from wrestling to pursue my graduate degrees in Milwaukee and now Baton Rouge, and it was another surreal moment to walk into a sea of more than 70,000 people alongside a good friend with whom I share an extreme passion for the business.

My view for WrestleMania.

Greg and I talked about everything wrestling and WrestleMania related. We discussed the sheer size and design of the event (the beautifully designed Carnivale-inspired stage was even more impressive and massive in person). We talked about the booking of the event and effective booking in general, something we have always clashed over.

We argued over the finish to Asuka versus Charlotte straight into the next morning – Greg is and will always be wrong in supporting the end of Asuka’s streak here, just to be clear. We shared our excitement for the mixed tag match with Ronda Rousey and the entirety of the John Cena/Elias/Undertaker segment, both segments which we agreed personified professional wrestling at its best with emotional storytelling and in-ring action that was exciting and intelligent. We each struggled to take in the main event of the show amongst a crowd in revolt. We even kept our conversation and debates going after the event, over burgers at an extremely busy Fuddruckers inside of a New Orleans casino (a surreal event in itself).

Some shameless self-promotion: A match between myself and Greg Excellent.

Through all of this conversation, Greg and I were actively exemplifying the spectrum of wrestling fandom. In the middle of moments like the aforementioned mixed tag match and Undertaker segments, we were on our feet and giddy alongside the other 70,000 plus people around us, stepping back into the enthralled bodies of our younger selves, oblivious and ignorant of the unreal nature of wrestling (“It’s still real to me, damnit!”).

In other moments, such as our disagreement about the Smackdown Women’s title match (in which, let us not forget, Greg is wrong), we were alternating between being internet smarks, assuming we knew what was best, and being experienced professionals within the pro-wrestling world, albeit at a much smaller scale.

We oscillated between the perspectives of the wide-eyed European boy and the smarky twenty-something that I was crammed between the night before while wrestling with our own personas as performers and students of wrestling and storytelling, and all the while we were likely an irritant to the poor folks in front of us who just wanted to watch a wrestling show.

I suppose my point in sharing all of this is simply to express my own amazement in the ways that the most surreal of all entertainments attracts and literally brings together myriad perspectives. Often times, like with the young boy and the smart mark at NXT, these perspectives can seem contradictory – one innocent and the other cynical – but the fact is that they all come from an identical love for the spectacle of sports entertainment.

Walking out of the NXT show, I overheard a group of young men talking excitedly about their weekend. They had been shouting so much during the show that they had all strained their voices. The spoke in gasps about how incredible the show was, they wondered how they would be able to handle WrestleMania if NXT had taken their voices, and, most endearingly, one of the young men talked about how he had already been made speechless that weekend when he met Asuka at WrestleMania Axxess.

I had enjoyed the show myself, but my excitement was nothing compared to that of these young men, and in those moments where I eavesdropped on their conversation and heard their enthusiasm for professional wrestling, I could not have been prouder to be a part, as both fan and participant, of this strange and surreal thing we call professional wrestling.

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Wed, 27 Dec 2017 19:06:17 +0000Mustafa Samiullahhttps://30yearwarning.wordpress.com/go/uncategorized/rusev-day-and-the-exception-to-my-rule/If you read this blog you know that I am a staunch advocate of fans being able to do what they want. The idea that fans have an obligation to cheer faces and boo heels is nauseating. Some of the biggest babyfaces of all time were cheered as heels. With that said, there is something that fans do that does annoy me and it goes to the newest sensation in WWE-Rusev and Rusev Day. I am worried that fans are going to hijack shows with this chant which is unfair (I know…”life is not fair”) to the performers who for the most part are giving a legitimate and often a very strong effort. I am not a fan of chanting for wrestlers who are not part of what is going on in the ring. I do not like C.M Punk chants or Randy Savage chants or chants for announcers, but that is the equivalent of a boring chant…which for some reason I find more acceptable than chanting for someone who is on the roster. It just makes me uncomfortable.

I should say that Rusev becoming the most over person on Smackdown or the entire WWE for that matter is something I am perfectly fine with. In fact, I am more than okay with it. I am a big fan of Rusev. I am fine if Rusev in Segment A is more over than (for example) A.J Styles in Segment C. I am not okay with Rusev being more over than A.J Styles in Segment C. I am not okay with Rusev being more over than Mike Kanellis if Rusev is not in a segment with Kanellis.

Now, these things don’t usually last in terms of fans disrespecting talents by chanting for other wrestlers. The Zack Ryder thing did not last. Even the Daniel Bryan hijacking of the Cena-Orton segment was not the type of hijacking I am talking about because (1) it was his hometown and (2) he was in the ring. I want Rusev Day to get over big, but not when other people are trying to get over as well.

Obviously, the best way to get the best of both worlds is to push Rusev strong because it will give fans their fix of him so they won’t overwhelm other segments with their chants. More importantly, it will give WWE an opportunity to see what it has. By the way, the hijacking of shows has not really happened yet. There was a Rusev Day chant during the Cena segment on Raw, but it was counter to Merry Christmas so that’s fine. It was the chant during the Samoa Joe-Roman Reigns match that concerned me. I know it’s Chicago, but still. I am just worried about it because people like to do their silly chants and it is almost as if they take pleasure in disrupting the shows and I hope that does not happen here.

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Fri, 22 Sep 2017 16:15:19 +0000Mustafa Samiullahhttps://30yearwarning.wordpress.com/go/uncategorized/youtube-reactions-from-noncasual-fans/Is becoming one of my new favorite pieces of entertainment. It is always interesting to me to see what non-fans think of wrestling. The same goes for fans who used to watch, but do not watch weekly anymore. Just watching the type of people I just mentioned watching the top 10 Raw moments, top 10 Smackdown moments, other videos from the WWE YouTube page, videos from What Culture or any other videos that are suggested to them is really fun. In fact if those people became regular fans, it would actually ruin it.

Just a random thought. As far as my favorite of these “reactors”, I would have to say it would be D&B E&T Entertainment. Dee and Brandon are always an entertaining watch.

It was the culmination of Mahal’s rapid ascent from “losing to Mojo Rawley thanks to Rob Gronkowski beer-toss” to “No. 1 contender, I guess?” to “holy crap this guy might become WWE Champion” in a matter of weeks. In the days leading up to Backlash, it seemed like an actual possibility that Jinder Mahal might become a world champion before people like Cesaro or Rusev would, but that doesn’t mean the title win was any less shocking to longtime WWE fans.

And the fan reaction shots from people inside the Allstate Arena in Chicago told the story. We’re proud to share with you these spectacular GIFs of stunned fans who absolutely could not believe what the hell. Please enjoy these, because we sure as hell do.

The first face we saw immediately after the three-count was this stupefied kid, and the cameraman expertly tilted down to reveal a chagrined young adult, but please, whatever you do, do not sleep on absolutely everyone else in this shot.

Next up, we had this completely spectacular couple, who were more amused than stunned speechless, but the sentiment is the same. Just coming at a different end of the “haha what” spectrum.

And then we got White Shirt Guy. Don’t worry; we’ll be seeing more of him.

This guy, though: I think this guy is my favorite.

In case you were wondering if Brock Lesnar Guy was as shocked as everyone else, given his propensity for being shocked by everything, don’t worry: he didn’t let you down.

This guy just couldn’t even.

And this guy thought surely this must be some sort of mistake.

Hey, White Shirt Guy is back! He’s still stunned!

You know who else is stunned? Tiny Paul Dano here:

And this kid is just straight-up questioning the meaning of existence. Me too, kid.

This guy appears to be attempting to stop his head from exploding.

And I’m pretty sure this guy is contemplating calling in sick on Monday.

And because WWE loves us, they gave us a couple of much-needed replays.

All in all, it was a really, really, really good night. Well done, everyone. You were all the best at being shocked. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us.

In the early 15th Century, Cosimo Medici, patriarch of his famed Italian family, rose to prominence in Florence. He did so via his skills as its preeminent banker, a gift equaled only by his savvy in politics.

What Medici is arguably best known for is how he spent much of his wealth. His love and patronage of the arts engendered some of the Italian Renaissance’s greatest works, to include Donatello’s ‘David’ also completion of Brunelleschi’s Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore.

Why the history lesson?

When I ponder independent wrestling, Cosimo Medici immediately comes to mind. I know, this analogy is an odd one, but hear me out.

Independent wrestlers and talent, much like the artists of the Renaissance, pursue a labor of love in a crowded entertainment and arts space. To pursue their dreams, these individuals invest faith both in their abilities plus individuals willing to support them out of appreciation for the craft.

In doing so, this path can be a bumpy one. Sponsors aren’t always available, also family and other obligations may force one’s hand to limit efforts to perfect said craft. Ditto variables outside their control, to include economic crises and military squabbles. Moreover, Medici – and other art patrons – ultimately dictate the tenets of this artistic expression. Even in the 1400s, money talks, and art must answer to those who pay the bills.

With this being said – and as history conveyed – Cosmo Medici and his offspring were godsends to Italian Renaissance art. Their steadfast commitment to furthering Italy’s artistic contributions and for decades at time ensured it an enduring marker as one of the brightest spots in artistic history.

While not Medici-esque by individual influence, today’s independent wrestling supporters combine to serve a similar purpose.

Despite the inner workings and politics of what can be a very trying labor of love, at the end of day it is the fans that empower these individuals to pursue their art.

Lost in the land of smarks (art critics who do little to further the art), bigger/smaller promotions, (competing artists vying for the eyes of patrons) and personalities (politics internal/external to the art) is the recognizance of just how important devoted fans are to independent wrestling’s survival.

Well, we all can’t be Cosmo Medici; independent wrestling supporters come in all shapes, sizes, and life stories. Some are doing better than others financially, likewise in life circumstance in general. Still, to discount the contributions of any of these individuals based on socio-economic first look is foolish at best. Akin to Medici, they’re providing the chisel and marble for Donatello to forge David.

That’s a very long way to go to state something oft-forgotten in independent wrestling: athletes, talent, and promotions need to better appreciate their fans.

Specifically, don’t be afraid of them. Yes, there are lunatics on social media, trolls out to rain on the sunniest of days, and those not quite right in the head with unhealthy crushes. This portion of the fanbase, however, is miniscule albeit loudest. And you’re doing a terrible job as a whole in recognizing this.

To explain, false airs and/or boundaries in favor of an ‘athletes only club’ ensures the Duomo never gets finished. Also sends a strong albeit sometimes unintended message of being a condescending jerk. Mike Trout signed autographs in college, AA, and now in the major leagues. Mike Trout is a good guy who happens to be a world class athlete.

As the old saying goes, ‘act like you’ve been there before’…and you may get to where you want to be. Hold those around you accountable toward the same.

I bring this up as – from our experiences – independent wrestlers are only getting worse at appreciating their Cosimo Medici’s.

It is OK to have friendships with those who support you most. It is likewise expected to say ‘thank you’ to individuals who keep the lights on. Third, treat supporters with the same respect they treat you with, and perhaps more. Remember: you need them more than they need you. Although they sure as heck appreciate to the nth degree the joy you bring to their lives.

Related – and back to Mike Trout: don’t forget where you came from. We’ve seen a disturbing trend of independent athletes and talent experiencing supporter amnesia at the first sniff of bigger opportunity. This is perhaps the most foolish of all actions. These supporters can fuel the flames of success when you needed the most. Example: when “San-ta-na” chants reign down from the Full Sail crowd, they’re appreciating the enormous amount of love Santana Garrett gives back to the Central Florida community. To Garrett, these fans send a strong message to the powers that be she deserving of present and potentially future and greater opportunities.

Moreover, there’s only so many Medici’s to go around. Turn on them, and they’ll find another artist who appreciates their patronage more appropriately. There’s no fall from grace in independent wrestling, rather timing and decision making rhythms.

Forget your supporters along the way, and they’ll forget you at lower points. A poor locker room culture and/or management that embraces this will shut the whole promotion down.

This site created a unique opportunity for us to get to know the athletes, talents, promotions and supporters of independent wrestling both locally and globally. We’ve met some of the most wonderful people along the way, to include merchandise peeps, cameramen, security, marketing reps, apparel manufacturers, ring announcers, pod casters, and artists. These individuals embrace the symbiosis of patron and performer, the resulting art we all love.

I’ve heard several say we’re going through a ‘renaissance of independent wrestling’ at present. If the artists disdain Medici, however, they’re in for a rude awakening.

This 220lb amateur wrestler from Missouri recently won the Cadet Greco National Championship, and as you can see from the video above, is working with some pretty incredible strength. Curd busted out WWE Superstar John Cena’s finisher — the Attitude Adjustment — during the 2016 USAW Cadet and Junior Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota. His opponent, Keaton Fogler, weighs just as much and Curd tosses him over like it’s nothing.

Though this seems like a fun fluke, this Curd kid is legit. Check out this clip of him competing back in Missouri and completely manhandling the poor kid who had to step into the circle with him:

Whether it’s Jack Swagger, or current golden child Chad Gable, amateur wrestlers have been able to make names for themselves in WWE. Let’s hope they’re gonna get eyes on him after this, and he can grow up to suplex his way through literally everyone who gets in front of him.

Long before they were a Two-Man Power Trip, Triple H did Stone Cold Steve Austin a solid.

Footage has surfaced of an Attitude Era Triple H coming to the aid of Stone Cold during a random attack from a fan. H takes the randomly occurring jerk to Suplex City, then mounts him from behind and punches and elbows him in the back of the head while referee Mike Chioda lays in some of the stiffest, sickest shots you’ve ever seen. I’m kidding. Chioda looks like Elaine Benes beating up a fan.

The description of the video gives it a wonderful kind of mystery, as it’s from someone with Meet & Greet permission (?) who breaks down the action and gives Iron Mike Chioda a little too much credit.

Monday’s Raw opened with a bizarre scene in which Mr. McMahon — two weeks removed from kicking Roman Reigns in the balls and getting Superman Punched in the face — feigned a neck injury in an attempt to get Reigns arrested. Not like he had footage of Roman jumping in the air and punching him in the face or anything, but stay with me. Stephanie McMahon showed up and started ordering police around, and the situation escalated until Vince was the one being arrested and taken away in handcuffs.

According to TMZ, the least realistic arrest in the history of television was realistic enough to make WWE fans contact the NYPD with a “flurry of calls.” There’s a reason why WWE says injured wrestlers have been taken to a “local medical facility” instead of “the hospital,” and it’s to avoid situations like this. We’re not sure if the calls were in defense of McMahon — I mean, the guy who arrested him fast forward through his Miranda rights, and I’m 99% sure those weren’t even real cops — or an effort to get McMahon saddled with as many charges as possible.

In case you missed it, here’s the “mugshot” aired on WWE TV shortly after the incident:

Come on, this all seems on the level.

Now Watch: Is The Undertaker The Most Terrifying Wrestler In WWE History?

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Thu, 19 Nov 2015 00:55:57 +0000The Lady Jhttps://theladyjsays.wordpress.com/go/from-j/everybody-get-out-your-notebooks/It’s Wednesday evening, but I’m going to miss NXT tonight due to prior obligations. I’ll catch up on it tomorrow and save that blog post for Thursday evening. In the meantime, I was daydreaming about numbers, so I was thinking we’d do a math lesson and I’d let you all inside the mind of The Lady J.

First of all, I saw a tweet a little while ago reminding us that the Shield debuted on the main roster three years ago today. I’m going to light a candle and try to remember the happier times when the story went that Paul Heyman paid the Shield to protect CM Punk. (Shut up, YOU’RE crying.) This is what was going on when I returned to wrestling. It didn’t take long at ALL for me to fall madly in love with the Shield as a faction, and watch them go from heel stable to über-over babyfaces. They were perfect as a trio: Reigns the pretty face, Ambrose the loud mouth, Rollins the in-ring show-off. A perfect trifecta. Now they are all the worse for wear not having their brothers and their brothers’ gifts to protect them.

We are currently one ex-Shield member down on TV as Seth Rollins recovers from his knee surgery. In his absence, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose have found themselves both as contenders in a tournament for the now-vacant WWE World Heavyweight championship. Dean Ambrose has become a sillier and less relevant version of his post-break-up self, and we’re all trying to push back as Vince forces a babyface Roman Reigns championship run on us. In the middle of all this nonsense, I’m trying to recall what it felt like to even BE a Shield fan, caught up in the moments leading up to Payback in 2014 and the following night’s episode of RAW. I’m trying to remember what it was like watching Roman Reigns go over the top rope in the Royal Rumble earlier that year, and how hard I booed Batista when he pointed to the Wrestlemania sign. Where did all of that love go? When did we decide he was being pushed too fast?

While I’m taking this emotional trip down memory lane, I am interrupted by a message asking me my thoughts on a report that the internal favorite to win the title is actually Dean Ambrose and not Roman Reigns. This is like asking me if I’d rather be shot and killed or stabbed to death. Either way, the end result is not good. Because regardless of who walks away with the title at the end of the night, there’s still the matter of Sheamus and the Money in the Bank briefcase. Do I think Sheamus will cash in on Sunday? I really have no idea. I just can’t see how any of these options play out well. If you put the title on Reigns, and Sheamus cashes in and loses, you’ve buried Sheamus even further, and what kind of champ do you have? A babyface that the people hate. And, no offense to Roman Reigns, but The Rock is not. His promos are not going to magically save him – they’re going to make matters worse. If Ambrose wins (and keeps the title away from Sheamus) what kind of champion will he be? He’d probably routinely lose the title, leaving it in airport bathrooms and on a booth seat in a Denny’s. He’s not a strong enough in-ring competitor to create the kind of caliber matches we’re used to seeing from the champion (especially after Rollins’ run). And if Sheamus successfully cashes in on ANYONE – oh, Odin Father, save us all from that fiery hell.

Besides, here’s a fact for you. Since the unification of the WWE and World Heavyweight championships, we’ve had five champions: heel Randy Orton, baby faces Daniel Bryan and John Cena, and heels Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins. It’s time for another babyface run, but perhaps someone who’s ACTUALLY OVER.

And speaking of statistics, the WWE is bleeding right now. Two of their biggest stars are out for the rest of the year (Lesnar & Cena). Plus currently out injured/not cleared to perform are: Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, Nikki Bella, Randy Orton, Rusev, Lana, Sting, Tyson Kidd and Rosa Mendes (who is, in fact, pregnant). So out of the 74 individuals listed as current full- or part-time performers, 11 of them are missing. That’s a lot. That’s one in seven. When you consider how many of those 74 individuals are only part-timers to begin with, that number gets worse. So between this information, and what is currently happening in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship picture, the third thing that came through my Twitter feed today wasn’t surprising at all. That was a picture of a basically-vacant arena in Knoxville where last night’s SmackDown taping took place. Reports were coming in that the arena, which is a 21,000 seat capacity building, had around 3,000 fans in attendance.

So here’s Lady J math for you: 3 members of the shield create 1 great storyline when they are 1 unit. But 1 boring championship tournament with 2 members of the Shield and 3 sorry options for an outcome, plus 1 out 7 members of your staff suddenly MIA means 1 out of every 7 fan is taking a pass on your product.

I would try and come up with a solution for this very, very bad problem, but there’s so much blood at this point I don’t even know where it’s coming from anymore. And I’m not sure WWE does either.

The good folks at the Squared Circle Reddit thread are always good for a story or two. Over the weekend — in light of all the run-ins at WWE events — a thread opened for people to talk about the times they got kicked out of a wrestling show. The results are pretty spectacular. We have one-eyed janitors, Undertaker tattoos and Davey Richards being a dick. What else can you ask for?

Here’s ZombieBoy with the home run out the gate. A story about One-Eyed Lance.

One Eyed Lance was a janitor at my school.

I lived on an Army Base, I’m pretty sure I was like 11 years old. Anyhow, the WCW decided to come perform for the base with the main event being Ric Flair vs Sting for the title. Pretty much every kid from my school was in attendance. One Eyed Lance, apparently liked to watch wrestling, really really liked Sting, really really really didn’t like cheaters, and really really really really liked drinking at “sporting” events.
Well about halfway through the match, Ric Flair began to do what I can only describe as, “Ric Flair Sh*t”. The Dirtiest Player in the Game was bringing out all the tricks, rake the eyes, scratch the back, and at some point he did the classic pull the ref in close for a chat while he gave Stings twig and berries a pretty good shot.

The Drunken Janitor, One Eyed Lance had seen enough at that point. He jumped the rail and into the ring, as if he was the Green Arrow trying to sell a Summer Slam match, and commenced to punching Ric Flair directly in the face and neck area.

I’d say he landed about six good shots before Flair turned around and pushed him. At that point in time the military police arrived, and tackled the Custodial Cyclops down and rolled him out of the ring.

The rest of the time I was in middle school, not one person f*cking with the janitor.

** Side Note: One Eyed Lance was known in my moms bar as the guy who would pop his fake eyeball out and let it float in his drink while he tried to forget he was a janitor at a middle school.

Don’t mess with The Undertaker… but Mrin_Codex knows a lady who wanted a piece of Paul Bearer.

I would never do anything to get tossed out of a wrestling show, but I had 3rd row seats to RAW in 1997.

During a break, this super goth girl came down and asked to sit in my friend’s seat. Dyed black hair, tank top, and she showed me her Undertaker tattoo.
When Taker came out for the next segment, she jumped the guard rail and tackled…Paul Bearer! She clung desperately to him as security came down and hauled her off to the back.

Have you ever touched Bob Backlund’s wiener over his pants? NXTMark has.

The best story I have that would be relative to this thread is from Smackdown in the early 2000s. I live in Connecticut and Bob Backlund used to campaign in the crowds at every single WWE live event in that state. I was just starting high school at the time, and this was the era in my life when “jimmy tapping,” i.e. back-hand slapping somebody in the dick, became a thing. I was walking to the concessions from my seat heading up the arena stairs at the very same time Bob Backlund was making his way down the stairs to the floor. As he passed by me and my friends, I reached up towards him and gave him a jimmy slap on my way up the stairs. He stopped. Turned around. Looked up the stairs and yelled: “YOU DON’T TOUCH ME THERE LITTLE BOY!!” He continued to yell, but as soon as he started we had already started to run up the stairs towards the concessions. I would see him later on over the years at other live events. Still campaigning. Still being Bob Backlund. But I always wondered if he remembered the time he went to smackdown and got jimmy tapped in the dick. I was young. It was stupid, but hilarious at the time. And I may, or may not have, technically sexually assaulted a former WWF champion in my life.

A Smackdown show I was at several years ago.. a guy threw a drink down from a slightly elevated section, onto Edge. Who promptly jumped up, grabbed the guy by the neck, pulled him down, and went to work on him — until security pulled him off the guy.

I support Edge in this 100%. EDIT: Apparently, it wasn’t Edge. I forget who exactly it was then, but the description of events, and my support, are still right. I don’t recall exactly when it was, but they filmed an ECW episode too, the one where Holly got that awful slash across his back.

And finally, indie wrestling’s most hated real-life person, Davey Richards, looking like a jerk, thanks to MiseryOpponent and this story.

I’m at a ROH show with my back to the curtain, sitting just next to the entrance. I’m booing Eddie Edwards and cheering Chris Hero. I hear “Hey!” from behind me and there’s Davey Richards’ face poking out through the curtain. Maybe it was the amused look on my face, but he immediately punches me square in the mouth. Nobody there except the people who saw it believed me later, because apparently a punch from Davey would have “destroyed my face.” It hurt a little the next day, but in the moment it was really nothing for whatever reason, so I laugh and say “Ohhh, Davey’s sensitive,” and then he tries to spit on me but misses and disappears behind the curtain. Shane Hagadorn replaces him and he tells me to leave. I like Shane enough, but I’m pretty much ignoring him because I didn’t do anything even remotely wrong. I hear wrestlers in the back trying to get Davey to stop being such a spaz. Security comes to kick me out and I leave after getting my refund.

When a wrestling fan gets engaged, one of their first thoughts is usually, “How do I do a wrestling thing at my wedding?”

This is James Wooten, a wrestling fan who just f*ckin’ went for it and cosplayed as “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair as he “walked that aisle” to get married. Not during the reception, where this kind of thing usually happens… during the actual wedding ceremony. If you’re gonna do it, do it with Flair, I guess. The YouTube description clarifies that his wife was “clueless” until someone showed her the video, so maybe that’s for the best?

All joking aside, your wedding day is your day, so if you want to get married in the Big Gold and a feathery robe, by all means. The Nature Boy’s been married four times, though, so you might be jinxing it. I hope he at least busted out the “diamonds are forever” line during his vows.

Pro tip: If you’re gonna go full Ric Flair for your wedding, you should go WCW-era Ric Flair and have the entire ceremony be a swerve that ends with you and your groosmen jumping the Best Man. Either that, or your bride should be three 40-year-olds.

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Wed, 29 Jul 2015 00:42:42 +0000huracanranahttps://wrestlinginflorida.com/go/live-events/group-hypnosis-the-live-wrestling-experience/Maybe I’m weird, or old, or both, but I actually remember enjoying seeing a movie at a movie theater simply because I loved the crowd. The movie was somehow better because of the way we all reacted or didn’t react to the different characters, story lines, climaxes, let downs etc. I remember truly believing that some objectively awful or at least cheesy movies (e.g There’s Something About Mary) were masterpieces simply because I saw them at the movie theater and the whole crowd was transfixed (aforementioned movie actually drew a standing ovation from the audience I was in). Something seemed to happen in the crowd, a shared experience that elevated a simple movie into a kind of group journey. But that is from my past. These days I’d rather sit at home and watch a movie on Netflix, than suffer through a crowd of people distracted by their cell phones, side conversations or make out sessions.

Fortunately I have wrestling, which I still believe is an event better experienced live and in a crowd than on TV. Wrestling can be like a movie in that some athletes or promotions only play up to the cameras almost oblivious or indifferent to the live audience surrounding them. This is what I would call “bad” wrestling. After all why do it live in the first place if you aren’t going to acknowledge there is an audience? However, acknowledge the audience too much and you break the suspension of disbelief.

In my opinion, “good” wrestling embraces the shared experience while not letting the audience dictate the event. When this is done well, wrestling becomes like a group hypnosis session, all eyes fixed on the play unfolding. (See the Intercontinental Belt’s write up on live performers, to understand: An Ode to the Older Live Performer). In these moments, emotions expressed by fans are genuine and the athletes play off of them acknowledging the acknowledgement. Something creative and unique to that moment has been made and we were all in it together. While these moments are rare, I find them at almost every live independent wrestling show. I’d say more often than not at Shine, FIP and Evolve; the great independent promotions in my local area. I go to wrestling for that moment; that sacrosanct flash, when most have their phone, camera, tablet, whatever, tucked away and are training their focus on the wrestlers who give that focus right back. That is my live experience, and no television camera can ever do it justice.

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Sun, 12 Jul 2015 18:38:22 +0000The Intercontinental Belthttps://wrestlinginflorida.com/go/live-events/fan-etiquette-the-perfect-prescription/At a recent (and terrific!) Evolve show in Ybor City, I heard a couple of very enthusiastic fans behind huricanrana and I self-justify their very loud chants to “make the [WWN] pay per view seem interesting.” Those guys definitely have a point, as – having watched many a taped show filmed at a small venue – eerie silence (from fatigue or even intense match watching) – can be an mood killer.

This led me to question what makes for perfect fan etiquette.

Everyone knows you don’t touch/interfere with the wrestlers…and move when they tell you (in advance of leaps/chair interactions). That’s a given. Beyond that, it gets a bit more complicated.

See, there’s this very big wrestling fan who attends almost all the area shows, an extraordinarily enthusiastic but also loud woman who draws the ire from every wrestler and manager…and likely sister fan…in attendance. Her non-stop harassment of heels elicits terrific responses, likewise vocal support of babyfaces (who often hug and interact with her).

Still, some talent are visibly annoyed by her, breaking kayfabe to shut her up. Fans around her aren’t sure what to make of her, as she’s clearly committed to the action, adds value to interaction levels, and is a live wire (to say the least). Without knowledge of her direct involvement with the show (as a plant, or otherwise), it’s unclear whether to appreciate or loathe.

The same can be said of a group of individuals who travel to almost all local shows in West Florida, make matching t-shirts, and pride themselves on the loudest and most clever chants they can conjure. There’s nothing at all wrong in strength in numbers. There is, however, a yellow flag raised when one them admits to wanting to stop shows in pushing buttons of wrestlers.

Profanity? Not OK for WWE/NXT shows, that’s for certain. Questionable at indy events…but what to do when wrestlers drop f-bombs left and right, utter the n word, and/or proclaim the opponent a MotherF***er when landing a headkick. Yes, there are kids in the crowd. But the bigger question is, what would the reaction be if such things came from the mouths of fans…?

At last month’s Shine show, one manager loudly insisted on having my bottle of water as part of the act. I wasn’t sure if she was serious/not, and didn’t want to overstep (let alone buy another bottle for several dollars) boundaries if not wanted. Ever more so when venue security didn’t play along by handing the manager said bottle themselves.

Why does Roman Reigns walk through a crowd? Is it OK to touch him? Where (noting below the belt is obviously stupid, also don’t grab anywhere)? To what extent?

There’s the high-five etiquette of doing so only when wrestlers offer their hands (as it looks good on camera). Lord knows the wrestler ‘drive by, high-five’ is certainly a unique entity (in how non committal it is).

Vulgar signs aren’t OK, but still make the cut on occasion. Competing and/or self-promotion signs are in bad taste. Is the goal for wrestlers to notice them…get on camera…or both? What is the ultimate sign victory?

At smaller shows, alcohol is flowing and security is forgiving…except if it involves physical interactions with other fans and/or talent. At Money in the Bank, fans next to huricanrana and I (in the front row, no less) were 5 beers deep each…vulgar to everyone around them (including talent), beers spilling on everyone within a 5 foot radius. But security did nothing. How drunk is too drunk?

Pro wrestling is an odd beast, as fans are so important to the show. ‘This is awesome,’ dueling chants, and/or ‘one more time’ clearly drive match tempo. Pro wrestling is intended to be interactive, but – all the while – operates under a haphazard set of rules. When someone like The Miz – a master at fan interaction enters a ring, do these rules again change based on wrestler comfort?

To answer these questions, we’ve reached out to small number of indy wrestlers…no responses just yet. The forum is open.

As a child, I used to gaze with awe at the environs of the majestic Madison Square Garden.

Everything there was special: the ushers, who I envied (they got to see EVERY game!), the food, the drink (somehow it smelled and tasted better based on location), and – of course – the passionate, ‘all-in’ fans around me (still adorning their day’s professional work attire).

I especially loved visiting fans; there was something really cool about seeing people and jerseys from another city…or even country!…at arm’s length. Did they think the way I did about THEIR team?

Over the years, I’ve gone to literally hundreds of live sporting events. As fascination evolved into convention and sometimes cynicism, I sadly realized that pro sports was solely a business at the whims of broadcasting contracts and luxury suites. Arenas beautiful but with cold personalities. Those ushers? Volunteers or barely paid. Many of those seemingly passionate fans were sloppy drunk, also vulgar. The visiting fans still came…but were often just as drunk and/or fearful for their safety.

I remember it vividly when I burned out on pro sports.

I was sitting in the top row of a hockey arena…watching the home team get shellacked by the opposition. Most around me were indifferent to the game. Nearly everyone’s heads were turned down in the direction of a mobile device screen.

I saw only a handful of visiting fans. The locals – many staggeringly drunk already – left an hour in based on score. Advertising was everywhere, omnipresent, and spewed non-stop. Kids were sparse. No laughter, no joy, no spectacle. Sure, there was a game going on. But I was 100 percent certain it would be more enjoyable from a living room, whisky in hand.

When I thought this an anomaly, it was only reinforced several times over. Even playoff games ceased to be fun. The local arena didn’t help matters much, instituting a policy to literally intimidate (their words, not mine) opposing teams’ fans from showing up and/or enjoying their experience. Apple and Samsung were represented everywhere; I would guesstimate more than half in attendance were on their phones throughout.

Thank the heavens pro wrestling is fake.

See, when the ending is pre-determined and based on conventions, the event is forced to be entertainment. So much so, you literally have to go out of your way to ruin the experience. Sure, some matches are better than others. Fact is, not every match or wrestler is on a level playing field.

When some idiot crosses the line, however – as I’ve seen via Roman Reigns hate – the individual is quickly pulled back by those around him/her. At house shows, the presence of children is obvious; you can hear their screams of joy and disappointment (when their favorites lose) as a constant soundtrack. Extreme vulgarity or intra-fan hostility becomes off limits. There is also the obvious recognition that the wrestlers can hear you. Too much vitriol toward them, and – again – the idiots are pulled back.

While cable television and the Internet expanded the reach and audience of pro wrestling, it’s maintained it’s core values system. Ask any wrestling fan – even those from 40-50 years ago – about his/her experiences, and they’ll incredibly convey sentiments and a code still present today. The show is not about you but the wrestlers; don’t forget that. Expect someone to end up in your lap if up close…but don’t touch them or abandon your chair until advised. Kids are the priority; ensure they have a good time. first and foremost. Endlessly taking pictures and/or using electronics is poor form.

Also, talk to the fans next to you. In every instance, this makes for event long conversational buddies…if not longer duration. Race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality…wrestling seems to have knack for ignoring and crossing all of them within its fanbase. To this day, I stand in awe of the diversity of Dean Ambrose nation. Nor can I understand it in the slightest. Which makes it even more awesome.

If you haven’t jumped on the New Day bandwagon yet, let the power of this video’s positivity help you out.

During a media appearance in Toledo, Ohio, The New Day found out about Alice, a 92-year old wrestling fan who had a ticket to the night’s SmackDown tapings, but couldn’t make it out because of her health. Because New (pause) Day rocks, they recorded a special message — and clap — just for her.

No word on whether or not The Ascension recorded a followup video where they bury The New Day and talk about taking Alice to The Wasteland.

In the world of wrestling there are heroes and there are villains. Much like any other outlet of entertainment, sometimes the villains are the best heroes. A quick look at the fandom surrounding the character Loki will show you just how much people love a villain over a hero such as Thor. So for this article, as bad as this is going to sound (and believe me when I say I want to scream “HERESY!!!!” at the top of my lungs for even making this analogy,) we are going to use Vince Russo as Loki and Good Ole Jim Ross as Thor. But before I start, I must say that this is an unfair comparison because there is no way in hell that Vince Russo would ever be Loki. But for this analogy we will say that Russo is Loki, but only in the sense that he feels like he is unjustly denied what he thinks he deserves. But unlike Loki, Russo isn’t loved by the general populace.

Now then, why did I pick JR for the comparison? Simple, because Vince Russo called attention to the fact that when he says something about the wrestling business in a negative way, everyone attacks him and basically threatens to kill him and his family. On the other hand, however, if Jim Ross says something negative about the business, it is generally welcomed with open arms. If you want to read the full article that Russo wrote, you can find it HERE.

I don’t want to mince words and have a forty thousand word essay on why people believe JR and hate on Russo, so let’s just get right to it. It’s as simple as this: Jim Ross is part of the “good ole boys network” in the wrestling world. JR worked for promotions that Vince Sr. held in very high regard, and as such, Ross cemented himself as one of the “guys” that could always be counted on to do the right thing, even if the right thing was in fact the wrong thing.

When I say that Ross is part of the GOBN, I mean that in a literal sense. Vince Russo graduated college with a degree in journalism and then pursued writing in the wrestling industry, making his debut with WWF in 1992. By that time, Jim Ross had already been in the business for 18 years, folks. Yes, 18 years, but not as a commentator. Here’s a major difference between Ross and Russo: Ross started out as a referee. Ross was a state Speech Competition Champion and was a local radio guy. He got his break in wrestling when a commentator failed to show one night and they handed him a microphone. So from the very beginning of this argument Ross already has a leg up on Russo simply because of background.

Now, I’m not by any means saying that a background or tenure makes one guy better than another. Some of the best people at certain jobs are guys that never had the slightest idea about the job they were doing until they stepped into the role to fill someone’s shoes. So why do we, the collective “IWC,” hate Vince Russo so much?

Well – as Russo pointed out in his article, he thinks that honestly it may be because he is a New Yorker and played the cocky, arrogant, smug northerner bit in WCW. Russo – I would LOVE to say that this is the reason why you are hated by fans, but I can’t say that. Not honestly, at least. The fact of the matter is this: When WWF (as they were at the time) were getting their asses handed to them in the ratings, you were a writer for the team. When you left and went to WCW, Eric Bischoff was the creative mind and the ratings were soaring. Bischoff takes off and you become the creative guy, writing shows, etc, and the ratings started to decline. Now, while I could honestly say that most fans have the perception that “Russo & Bischoff killed WCW,” I won’t say that this is why you are hated.

It goes beyond that. You see, there is a two fold issue here:

1.) Older fans know you as the guy that had bad ratings in WWE, then went to WCW where you booked yourself as WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and then when that company folded you wound up in TNA, which, during your tenure there, they had some of their lowest ratings. So the old fans simply see you as the “wannabe” and even if everything is total happenstance and you don’t deserve any of the hate you receive, perception is reality to the fans, and the old fans will never get past that.

2.) Young fans have no fucking clue as to who you are, and they don’t care. Why? Because you weren’t sitting at an announce table yelling “STONE COLD! STONE COLD! STONE COLD!” like a bubbling retard for fifteen years, and no matter how atrocious JR’s commentary was, he is likened as to being a demigod in the wrestling world. Young fans know who he is because he receives undue praise from the idiots in the IWC that are still stuck in fucking 1999 and dreaming of an “attitude era” that was, at best, overly gimmicky and not worth all the damn hype.

Now – don’t get this twisted. I am not a Vince Russo fan. Not because of his character in WCW, but solely because of the booking of himself as Champ. That was enough to make me never like him, just as it was enough to make me never like David Arquette no matter how much he says he loves wrestling and didn’t want to do the angle.

But on the other hand, I also can’t stand Jim Ross. I think if there were ever an over the top, bonafide, corporate ass kissing monkey that would pucker up at the slightest hint of a free barbecue sale, it is Jim Ross. And that’s why I can’t stand the man. I can’t stand the corporate shill, that despite being unfairly fired, etc, always takes the “high ground.” Let me be blunt here: Jim Ross doesn’t take the high road because he’s that “type of guy.” He takes the high road because he knows that as long as he does, he may not be on television but (in my JR Voice) “Buh Golly I may have been silenced but my slobber knocking barbecue sauce is still on sell at WWEShop, and my lord it is enough to make Misses Foley’s Baby Boy cream himself!”

Fact of the matter is very simple, Mr. Russo. You aren’t liked because no matter what you do, you will always be seen as a failure in the eyes of the general populace in the wrestling world. You are right about one thing: we don’t know you. We haven’t met you. You could be like Nikolai Tesla, a genius that got raped and pillaged by a corporate hound in the form of Thomas Edison. Maybe a hundred years after you die we will find a collection of books detailing how bad you got screwed and how much of a wrestling fan you really are.

But hey, I’m not the general wrestling fan. I don’t like you simply because of the WCW booking, but I can honestly say I hate Jim Ross more than I hate you, simply for the fact that I had to listen to his retarded ass for my entire teenaged life, and that is something I’ll never get back. All those hours of hearing that moron yell random names, and make promises that weren’t true, and use God as a witness to shenanigans that were total bullshit. (For reference, see the “God as my witness he is broken in half” bit by JR.)

So to sum this all up: Not everyone hates you, Russo. I don’t like you, but I don’t hate you. Chances are if I ever met you and got to pick your brain about the wrestling industry then I’d probably have a completely different respect for you, and maybe I’ll be lucky enough one day to get to do so. But don’t feel bad just because people take what JR says as “gospel.” After all, these are the same fucking idiots that think he’s the greatest commentator of all time. They’ve obviously never heard the duo of Heenan & Monsoon, or for the ECW fans out there, Joey Styles doing it solo. So keep your chin up, it’s just entertainment, bro.

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Questions of Comments? Leave a reply below, or feel free to email us at FMRWrestling@tx.rr.com.

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Sat, 30 May 2015 20:12:45 +0000ringsideseatbmhttps://ringsideseatbm.wordpress.com/go/wwe/can-i-mark-out-for-a-minute/“Marking” out for something or someone is essentially to freak out over it. It’s a term that is completely overused among the wrestling community. Usually when I hear that term it honestly makes me cringe because everyone with a blog or a podcast uses it. With that being said I have to mark out for a minute today.

I started trying to get into the wrestling business as a writer in November of last year. I started writing and putting my thoughts out there on the Internet and on social media. Slowly I was able to get a little bit of a following and some feedback on my thoughts and opinions. In February just a few months into this journey I was presented with a major opportunity.

This year at WrestleMania I had the opportunity to talk to Vince Russo one on one. Now say what you want about Vince Russo he is still VINCE FREAKING RUSSO!!! The guy worked with Vince McMahon and wrote for people like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. As a lifelong wrestling fan it was a crazy honor and a very cool experience to have the opportunity.

Then last week I got the chance to have a 1 on 1 interview with Jeff Jarrett. Again say what you want about Jeff Jarrett he is still JEFF FREAKING JARRETT!!! Jeff has spent time in both WWE and WCW, been a multiple time world champion and now is on the cusp of starting his second wrestling company.

The coolest thing about both Russo and Jarrett is they didn’t have to talk to me and they were more than willing too. Both Jarrett and Russo answered every question I had and were very cool to me. I have been able to stay in contact with Vince Russo since our interview and I hopefully will with Jeff Jarrett also.

The aspiring journalist in me stays calm and moves forward. The wrestling fan in me is freaking out because in the past 3 months I have had 1on1 interviews with two legends in the wrestling business! I may never interview anyone else again, this may be the best it ever gets for me but if so then I’m happy!

This journey into the wrestling business has shown me that you can achieve dreams in this life. Due to some luck and some hard work I am in a position to be a part of an industry I have followed my entire life. I may never make it to the WWE or make a living off of pro wrestling but I am having a blast and thoroughly enjoying what I do.

I can’t thank people like Jeff Jarrett and Vince Russo enough for giving me their time and being great people who are willing to talk to a guy like me who is brand new. This journey is just beginning but it’s exciting and I’m having a blast!

]]>https://wildbullcurry.wordpress.com/go/wrestling/memories-of-my-dad-from-flying-fred-curry/
Sat, 30 May 2015 17:44:01 +0000lonewolfgenhttps://wildbullcurry.wordpress.com/go/wrestling/memories-of-my-dad-from-flying-fred-curry/Fred “Bull Curry” the hard throwing fearless grappler had a fast growing reputation. He had no hesitation to use those iron fists in or out of the ring. Promoters took advantage of this acceleration that took him to mat stardom. He was rogue and unpredictable. He was a promoters dream, a crowd drawer.

They tagged him with names like the Assyrian Stevedore from San Francisco. Assyrians were an ancient tribe of nomads that terrorized Mesopotamia. Stevedore was a seldom used name for dock worker. All this topped off by his wild look and mannerisms, along with his punching power and unperdictable actions had the fans coming in droves. He was crazy, he was wild and someone they wanted to see up close, but out of reach.

There was an aura of confidence in the way he held his body. His shrug of the shoulder, muscular arms, along with the lowering of his heavy eye brows created a menacing look that couldn’t be denied.

In issue 13 of Calling Spots magazine, contributor Martin Smith cast a much-needed light on the problematic aspects of the relationship between wrestling fans and the wrestlers they admire. Reading this collective call-to-sense for fans in the community calls to mind whispers of half-recollected anecdotes from the absolute worst this fandom has to offer, from finding wrestlers’ home addresses online to knock on their doors, to going as far as following them into the restrooms and peeking over the stalls in a bid to get some attention. Actions that would be considered abhorrent when directed towards a peer or acquaintance somehow seem acceptable through the distorted lens of the parasocial, and it’s something that needs to end quickly if the wrestler/fan relationship is to be salvaged.

Granted, a lot of this is simply down to being in the public sphere, and it’s likely that instances like this can be found across the world of entertainment, where our favourite musicians and actors will have experienced similarly depraved behaviour. However, I believe a lot of it is also specific to professional wrestling, and stems from the mentality and behaviour actively encouraged by WWE themselves. This is definitely not an attempt to displace the blame or justify anybody’s actions, but as Calling Spots have mentioned, fans treat wrestlers as “property” and it must be noted that this attitude didn’t materialise out of nowhere.

WWE tend to bleed certain attitudes into the minds of the fans (for example their perception of the Divas’ division as unimportant reflecting itself in the fans who choose to label the women of WWE as “piss breaks”) and close examination shows there’s a similar thing going on here. It’s no stretch of the imagination that when you hear wrestlers speak of the love they have for their profession, it is in all sincerity and candour. Many – or even most – pro wrestlers today have pursued their career from an early born childhood love, and still hold the same enthusiasm for what they do in the ring every day. It’s a fact that WWE are quick to remind you of, often plugging clips and soundbites of their wrestlers exalting the joys of their work, painting a picture of a joyful and dream-fulfilling job, whereas the unfortunate reality is that WWE have used this love to categorically exploit the wrestlers for a very long time now. The gruelling travel schedule of any given WWE wrestler is no secret, and neither is the unhealthy, WWE-perpetuated idea that killing yourself for your profession, travelling and working hurt to not lose your spot and because you’re hardwired not to complain anyway, is some sort of glorious ideal to aspire to.

It is this same glorious ideal that causes wrestling fans to begin looking at wrestlers less like brave individuals following their passion with no regard to personal cost, and more like the property that gives rise to the situation we find ourselves in today. Take for example the year long feud between The Rock and John Cena. It was filled with nonsense and half-truths on both sides, admittedly, but recall the ideas that resounded most solidly with wrestling fans on John Cena’s part: The Rock left. The Rock deserted wrestling, and therefore wrestling fans, despite his promise that he would never leave. As soon as Hollywood came calling, he distanced himself from the industry he claimed to love, stopped going by his wrestling name, and generally isolated himself from the people that ‘made’ him. Despite being at the arguable height of his intolerability as a perpetual, front-and-centre staple of weekly television, perpetuating this rhetoric gained Cena a lot of sympathy, even and especially among the so-called internet smart fans that seemed to hold the most disdain for him.

Which is very odd, because a half-second of thought is enough to realise that this argument simply doesn’t make any sense. Dwayne Johnson, after emphatically accomplishing everything there is to accomplish in professional wrestling, decided to change careers and pursue his talents elsewhere. Imagine a world where resenting people for their change in livelihood was a regularity. We would see school teachers shunned, bank tellers berated, and lord knows what sort of other things directed towards people simply doing what’s best for themselves.

But think carefully about the steps that have caused fans to set apart the wrestler from the bank-teller. Babyface promos. Hall of Fame speeches. Every time an on-screen personality waxes lyrical about the love they have for doing what they do “for the fans,” the link between the two contrasts is solidified. Wrestlers love what they do. They see the inside of a wrestling arena more than they see their own families. They must love us a lot.

They must love us a lot.

Somewhere down the line this appreciation for the wrestlers’ tireless work ethic began to be taken for granted. This became the attitude expected of them. Gloating about WWE’s long running weekly episodics became a point of pride for the company as well as for the fans themselves (if you’re quick to let others know of the non-existent pain of between-season hiatuses, you are not the only one) and at some point the current state of affairs became the celebrated norm. Deviating from this norm without a clear and valid reason (i.e. forced retirement, death) causes a person to be quickly vilified, as The Rock was, and as CM Punk widely was before his Art of Wrestling podcast interview.

Common sense and basic human decency will always go a long way, but without changing the fundamental nature of the professional wrestling fanbase and industry it’s impossible to be certain that people will ever stop looking at wrestlers’ lives and bodies as something that is owed to them.